Improved railway-frog



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YYY

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

ADDISON ROBBINS, OF ORANGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IM PROVED RAI LWAY-FROG.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,271-, dated July l0, 1866.

`To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADDIsoN RoBBINs, ot Orange, in the county of Franklin and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement having reference to Railways; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawing, which is a top View of a railwaytrack and a branch track provided with my invention. V

The said invention relates to the junction of two crossing rails or the angle-piece at such junction. Instead of making' the said angle-piece stationary in the ordinary way, I construct it and portions of the two rails next its vertex movable, in manner as hereinafter described. i

When the angle-piece is stationary it is apt to soon become worn or broken down at its vertex in consequence of the concussions it is subjected to from the wheels in passing upon it. The ends of the two rails next adjacent to its vertex are also liable to be worn down more or less by concussions of the wheels while they may be in the act of either ent-ering upon or passing oft' them.

My invention is designed to dispense with l the usual ange-passages between the rails and the angle-piece, and by so doing to form what may be termed, for all practical purposes, a continuous bearing-surface7 for the wheel to run on while passing from the rail to the angle-piece, or from the latter to the former.

In the drawings, A A and B B denote the crossing-rails of the main track and turn-out.

G is the angle-piece at the junction of these rails. This angle-piece, instead o f being stationary, as it generally is,turns on a center or pivot, f, situated at or near its base. It is also jointed by a pivot, c, to a movable earriage or slider, E, which extends underneath it transversely, Vand is supported on a .rail or plate, F. The slide E may be furnished with friction-wheels, by which it may be supported on the plate F.

TWO short rails, O D, in continuation of the rails A B, or arranged with respect to them and the angle-piece Gr in manner as represented7 are to be supported so as to be able to turn on centers or pins c e, and are connected with the slide or carriage E by means ot' arms a l), arranged on opposite sides of the anglepiece G, and jointed to the said slide-bar or carriage E at d d. The tWo auxiliary rails O D, where they are next to the angle-piece, are supported on and secured to a stop carriage or slider, K, designed to move on a bedplate, L, and between two stops, M N. The two rails C D may also have one or more other movable supporting-slides, I, each to rest and slide on a bed-plate, H.

By moving the angle-piece G so as to bring its smaller end or vertex into conjunction with the rail C we shall move the slide K up to the stop M. So, by moving the angle-piece into conjunction with the rail D, we shall move the slide K against the stop N. These stops, with the slide K, thus serve to arrest the movements of the angle-piece G and the two rails O D at the periods of conjunction ot' the angle-piece with such rails.

When the an gle-piece is in conjunction with the rail O the two make, with the railsA A,a

continuous line of rail for a carriage-Wheel to run on, such line ot' rail being parallel, or sufciently so, with the rail A2. So,when the angle-piece Gr is in conjunction with the rail D, they, with the rails B B', Will form a continuous rail in parallelism, or sufficiently so, with the Vouter turn-out rail B2. The two movable rails C D should be a sufficient distance apart at their nearest approach to each other to allow of the passage of the wheel-anges between them when the angle-piece is in conjunction with either of them.

In whatever direction a carriage maybe passing the rail-crossing, its wheels, by their action against either the angle-piece or one of the movable rails C D, will move the said angle-piece and auxiliary rails simultaneously into the proper positions for the carriage to continue its course over and by the crossing, provided the angle-piece may not be in conjunction with the rail, C or D, over which the wheels of the carriage are to pass.

With my invention the angle-piece, instead of being brought to a very acute angle atk its vertex, may there be as Wide as either of the rails,and as there will be no open space of any consequence between it and the auxiliary rail,

C or D, with which it may be iu conjunction, iliary rails C D and their stopping devices, the Wheel of the carriage will roll on or oft' 1t applied together, substantially as described, with as little detriment to it as would result with the crossing mils of the main and turnto the end of zt rail while the wheel might be out tracks, as specified. iu the act of passing over the joint of two adjacent mils. ADDISON ROBBINS.

I claiml The combination, as Well as the arrange ment, of the movable angle-piece G and aux- Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, J1'.

ym.. `al 1 

